Suparoom 1992

‘We’re talking about a Vermeer!’, commented Arkley, with conscious irony, in interviews conducted for the ‘Mix’n Match’ catalogue (Gregory 1992), and here he achieved something vaguely reminiscent of Dutch interiors, with their intense accumulations of material objects and patterning. Of course one of the key differences (not to mention numerous other variations) is the absence of human figures, but this is clearly identified as an inhabited space (through the lighted fire, books, etc.).

The source is a lounge-room template from Gold’s Instant Decorator, faithfully reflected in the gauche perspective of the coffee table; but Arkley Australianized the room by substituting a kookaburra for a sub-van Gogh landscape in the U.S. decorator manual.